If only Darren Sutherland had known he was not alone

If, as suspected, the death of Darren Sutherland proves to have been suicide, Ireland's Olympic bronze medallist was just one young man among far too many

Darren Sutherland is declared the winner of his Olympic quarter-final against Venezuela's Alfonso Blanco Parra, guaranteeing the Irishman the Beijing bronze medal he won. Sutherland died this week in a suspected suicide. Photograph: Jacques Demarthon/AFP/Getty Images

Kevin Lueshing, who challenged Félix Trinidad for the world welterweight title in 1997, was out jogging near his home in Bromley early one wet morning two weeks ago when he saw a version of his younger self pounding the streets.

It was Darren Sutherland. "I recognised him," Lueshing says, "although I'd never met him. He reminded me of myself when I was boxing, putting in the hard hours to get ready for a fight, making sacrifices others don't know about. We stopped and talked and I said he should come around for a cup of tea some time if he felt like it. He said he'd love to.

"I don't know if he was lonely or what but he was a nice, friendly guy and seemed fine. You never know, though, what's going on in someone's life. Boxing really takes it out of you. There's no sport like it and I think a lot of fighters really suffer with the pressures, inside and outside the ring, the hassles, the doubts, the worries. I feel absolutely gutted over what happened."

The coroner, ultimately, will deliver a judgment on Sutherland's cause of death. If, as seems will be the case, he rules that Ireland's 2008 Olympic middleweight bronze medallist took his own life in his south London flat this week, Sutherland's name will be added to a worryingly long list of young men who choose suicide as a solution to their problems.

The Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm), a charity dedicated to helping people tempted by suicide, has released some disturbing statistics.

"Young men are more likely to kill themselves than die from any other cause," a spokesperson said. "Suicide [in Britain] accounted for 972 deaths in 2008 among men aged 15-34 compared to 19 Aids-related deaths and 255 murders. What's more the numbers of young male suicides increased last year. Contrary to popular misconceptions, many suicides are committed by men like Darren Sutherland; men who are successful, attractive, well-liked and respected."

Sutherland's death is a reminder that boxing can be the toughest, loneliest sport in the world and we should maybe keep that in mind when we see them doing their best for our entertainment.

Big noise, big man

Al Bernstein is one of boxing's good guys. He has been a Showtime commentator for many years and clearly loves his calling. But he reckons a large section of the rest of the sports media do not.

He has a point. Years ago, most newspapers in this country had a dedicated boxing writer. These days, the sport is slotted in alongside other duties and is often considered an afterthought.

I was reminded of this last night when I paid Steve Bunce a visit in his BBC London studio, which has just been moved from its old Baker Street HQ back to Broadcasting House near Oxford Circus. The building is a wonderful rabbit warren, and Buncey's little bit of it is barely big enough to house the big man or his excellent weekly boxing show, physically and metaphorically.

His show is a scream, literally. Off air, we talked about a boxing writer who was twice the size of most of us, John Robinson from Hackney. I shared another studio in the building one night with Big John – officially Europe's biggest man – and the late Harry Mullan, who was editor of Boxing News.

So tiny was the space and so big was John that the staff needed a crane to lower and raise him into the studio. I kid you not. But, so dedicated was Robinson to his sport and his job (as well as the fee, perhaps), that he put up with it.

Buncey, by the way, has taken his show on the road, across Britain and Ireland. Catch him if you can.

100 and counting

Norman Giller, who has probably written as many words about boxing as the Sun's Colin Hart, filed an entertaining piece for the Sports Journalists' Association this week which captured an era when mainstream coverage of our sport was in its pomp.

He was a mainstay on Boxing News, which has just turned 100. What an amazing institution it is. When Harry Mullan was in the editor's chair, there was always an air of inspired anarchy about the place, a rugged individualism rare in a trade magazine.

His successor, Claude Abrams, has moved with the technology without losing any of the paper's rigour. It is still a must-read, in this country and everywhere else that boxing still matters.

It has come close to closure a couple of times but is hanging in there – just like the business it covers.

The big showdown with UFC

Their non-title fight in Las Vegas is selling at $50 on pay-per-view, while UFC103 in Dallas is for sale at $40.

It is an accidental fixture clash, as the Mayweather-Márquez fight had to be rescheduled after "Money" injured himself in training ... apparently. Ticket sales for that one were, coincidentally or not, moving like cold honey, and they haven't exactly spun the MGM Grand turnstiles off their hinges this weekend either.

It is a big test: boxing's self-proclaimed cash cow up against the brash new sport making serious inroads into the fanbase. Expect a lot of bluster from both sides next week.

Oh yeah?

Kell Brook reckons he can be the "new Mayweather". Be careful what you wish for, Kell.

The young British welterweight champion rightly admires the amazing skills of the American, but he would be crazy to want to adopt his lifestyle.

Nevertheless, like all hardcore fans, he will stay up late tonight to watch the master at work.

"He's an amazing talent," Brook says, "but I'm now beginning to look at him as a potential rival rather than a hero. I'm not at his level yet, but I know I can win a world title and, once I've done that, who knows what fights can be made in the future."

If Mayweather is still around when Brook gets a world title shot, I will be very much gobsmacked. But he's entitled to dream.

Meanwhile, he has to get past Michael Jennings at the Liverpool Echo Arena next month. Jennings, outclassed by Miguel Cotto at Madison Square Garden in his unexpected world title challenge, is still a tricky domestic hurdle.

"If I can do a better job on Jennings than Cotto did," the Sheffield champion says, "I'll know that I'm going in the right direction. I promise I'm going to look spectacular up in Liverpool. Jennings is a nice guy and he's a good boxer, but he won't be able to cope with my power and he's going to be another boxer who won't hear the final bell."